Free Traffic Legal Advice

Hello,

I have received a PCN from Tower Hamlets authority for "52M - Failing to comply with  a prohibition on motor vehicles" on Wapping High Street (Sampson to Wapping Ln) from 28/10/2025 at 09:48. The notice was issued on 12/11/2025 and it has only arrived very recently as it was in my post when I returned home again this weekend. I am concerned that I have only just been made aware of this PCN and it is already a decent time since it was issued.

I have tonight logged into the portal to review the images and footage. Apparently there is some form of bus gate in operation temporarily for a few hours each day at the entrance/exit to this roundabout. From what I can see reviewing Street View it is indicated by some high up signs directly on the point where you reach it and I assume are the three thin red painted lines on the road.

On the morning, I was attending the London office of the company I work for which is on Thomas More Street nearby. As I recall, I was routed down Wapping Lane or Garnet Street to reach my destination and I followed the directions given as I am unfamiliar with the area. I cannot recall and could not find by looking at Street View that there are any signs when you turn onto Wapping High Street that there are restrictions for cars at certain times. By the time you reach this bus gate there is nothing you can do even if you spot the sign they have placed right on it (and in fact it appears worse if you are coming the other way by travelling down Sampson Street to turn left looking at Street View as you are immediately upon it).

Street View link for the location is here. I have also taken pictures of the 6 pages of the PCN and uploaded these below as directed in the sticky post and have retrieved a copy of the evidence images once I managed to get past the chat bot which only felt designed to coerce me into paying rather than being able to view the evidence against me. If it makes any difference the Map location on their portal simply states "No mapping data available."

PCN Photos







Images/Video




Video Link

Thank you for looking and any help will be appreciated.

How often do you collect your mail ? A PCN date of 12th Nov, would be expected to be served 2 days later as it is sent (must be, was it ?) by 1st Class mail. You then have 28 days to pay or submit reps. I suggest you submit reps on he basis that the PCN arrived in your mail on <date> so was well outside the 28 day period, and ask them to cancel the CC and accept late representations.

If they refuse all this, you can wait for the Order for Recovery, which is sent following then registering the debt at the Traffic Enforcement Centre. This adds £10 to the CC amount, being the TEC registration fee. You can then submit a Statutory Declaration and state with a clear conscience that you didn't receive the PCN.  Yes, you got it but far too late to do anything about it, so I am quite certain your SD reason is valid. Provided it is submitted in time, your SD will be accepted, and the matter reverted to the PCN stage when you can pay the discount or submit reps.

It's clear TH won't play ball so you now have to wait for them to register the debt at TEC. They can do this when the payment period for the CC has expired. Once it has, you need to be proactive and phone TEC about every 7-10 days to enquire whether the PCN has been registered. Once it has you can download the form from the TEC website, complete it, get it witnessed and signed and send it off. They will send you an Order for Recovery, but in view of your mail issue, this may not arrive before its response period has expired. You certainly do not want to have to submit an out-of-time declaration because these are not automatically accepted.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/form-pe3-challenge-an-unpaid-penalty-charge-notice

Recurring task to start checking at least weekly with the TEC and the TH portal seems to be the next step then until I can intercept the debt at the stage its registered with them. Will familiarise myself with the process for submitting a declaration via the PE3 and getting it witnessed.

Do you mean there is something wrong technically with the PCN Hippocrates that would make it invalid in some way?